This is a collection of cards based off Warcraft III.
A few goals I had with this set to differentiate it from my StarCraft set was to restrict myself from adding any new Keywords or Minion types, yet still have the cards retain the distinguishing flavor of their War3 counterparts. I wanted to make this set feel compatible with the existing Hearthstone game.
Each Race from Warcraft III is represented by a Dual-Class combination that I felt best matched what they were like in the game. In standard games, there are only four races. Sorry, Rogues & Demon Hunters!
Mechanics Introduced
Some cards have some simple yet unique interactions that can make things interesting.
Minions with triggered effects
This is going by the gamepedia definition. The Durotar Raider for example, can act as a kind of 'soft' Silence to keep minions with reoccurring abilities from snowballing.
Non-played minions
A minion that was not played from the hand, but brought to the board some other way. For example, Control Magic could not take control of a Water Elemental normally, but if it was created via Deep Freeze, you could spend 3 mana to take control of it.
Enchantments
A different kind of 'soft' Silence, can be used to deal with threats from heavily buffed minions, or restore your debuffed minions without also removing their card text.
While I was working on a big update to this, imagine my surprise when Blizzard announced that some spells will be able to level up as the game goes on! Although in the Barrens expansion it seems to only apply to spells, I feel it could work for minions and weapons too. In War3, both hero spells and units can be upgraded, so I've definitely taken advantage of it for this fan expansion.
New Cards
Human
Orc
Undead
Night Elf
Neutral
Possible Legion Doom Guard spells:
Updated Cards
It'd be easier to list cards that weren't changed! So to keep this list simple I'll limit it to cards that had their mechanics changed in some way, rather than those that only had numbers changed or were given Rank upgrades, or spell schools.
The more cards I made, the less Spellburst came up, and so cards that interacted with the keyword seemed less and less useful. These changes let them shine more.
Old Version
New Version
I didn't really know what to do with the Troll Berserker's 'Berserk' ability, but the new Frenzy keyword helped give it a better direction.
OldNew
Sometimes you just gotta reset your own stuff too.
OldNew
Arthas is cool, too cool for his own good. Letting a less powerful non-legendary replace him lets his abilities come into play earlier.
OldNew
This was just a little too useful. Now it's a choice between hitting face and a few minions.
OldNew
I've made Taunt treated like being a Building in war3. Maybe a little weird, but it allows 'Siege' minions to feel more at home.
OldNew
At the last second, a pesky Acolyte swoops in to 'Unsummon' the tower, recovering precious resources.
OldNew
With the new Mana 'Scorch' spell, our 'Demon Hunter' no longer needs to worry about it and can focus on evading. There was an abundance of splash, so I thought having a minion type change was more interesting, even if few HS cards will care about it.
OldNew
Another case where Frenzy just made things better
OldNew
Crows can't attack Land units. Well, there is no such thing as a Land or Air unit in HS, so we'll settle for it not hitting heroes. This makes the Choose One options a little more even
OldNew
The 'damage penalty' mechanic fits better with what it actually does in War3.
OldNew
You can have your hero 'cosplay' a Pit Lord with this, with a Howl of Terror! Had to get rid of 'Lord' since there's not much space on Weapon names.
OldNew
It was either Healing Spray or Acid Bomb, and Acid Bomb would need more text, so it will probably have to be its own card.
OldNew
I like Sappers but they have to be reined in, or be expensive.
OldNew
Hall-of-Fame'd (Removed) cards
These were either replaced by a new card that I felt better fit what they were trying to represent, or in the case of Chain Lightning, replaced by a new Blizzard-made card. Although their Chain Lightning doesn't have as much bounce as I might like.
Many have pointed out that these cards were far too powerful. So they've all been nerfed in some way so as to still be useful, but not game-breaking. I also made them a little more distinct from eachother mechanically.
OldNew
Old New
The Witch Doctor can now only summon one totem until it ranks up.
OldNew
OldNew
The Shade is no longer collectable. It can only be obtained via the Acolyte's Deathrattle. It also gets a unique spin on hand revealing. It only sees what your opponent is hovering over. So if they don't spend time inspecting their cards, it will be less effective.
OldNew
OldNew
The Huntress now needs to be Rank 2 to summon the Owl.
OldNew
OldNew
OldNew
Excessive card text
Many cards definitely had way too much text. I've trimmed down the worst offenders of this. Sometimes this necessitated a change to make their mechanics simpler, yet still fitting for representing their War3 counterpart. Some cards are definitely still a bit wordy, but this at least is a step in the right direction.
OldNew
OldNew
OldNew
OldNew
OldNew
OldNew
OldNew
OldNew
Reduce Attack damage
Poor low-damage characters couldn't even Attack with these cards on the field.
OldNew
OldNew
Other changes
In War3, Holy Light and Death Coil cannot target the caster. So they've been updated to more accurately reflect that.
OldNew
OldNew
It's maybe a little too weird to have dual-class Secrets, so I've made them exclusive to their specific class.
OldNew
Mages have unfortunately lost their iconic Blizzard spell in Standard, so our Archmage must step up to the plate to dish out the AoE damage he's known for. Also found better art for him.
OldNew
I felt having a % chance mechanic didn't really fit what should be a relatively basic minion. In War3 it's fine because fights can go on for a while and so their effect isn't as much of a coin-toss. This re-worked Footman gets to keep some early damage mitigation and have a bit of a specialized role without being good against every early drop.
OldNew
It was maybe too much Freeze for such a cheap minion.
OldNew
OldNew
OldNew
It didn't make much sense for the Stasis Trap to have Stealth for 1 turn if it was just going to die in 1 turn anyway.
OldNew
Animate Dead is one of the more notoriously lame Ultimates in War3. Animated units don't have their abilities, so originally I went with that. But it was wasting card text to make the card less interesting. Now that's no longer the case and you have a bit more control over the minions you get, so it's certainly more useful now.
OldNew
Stopping the target in its tracks also happens in War3, and makes it more useful here.
OldNew
Kind of a lame card before. In War3 its main use is in securing an expansion faster, rather than for the regenerative effects of Blight. So this change better reflects that.
OldNew
Some Night Elf art improvements
OldNew
OldNew
OldNew
OldNew
Blink is basically a completely different card now. Its old effect was basically just an Invulnerability potion if you didn't already have a Weapon. And it had too much text. With this re-work, it feels more like your hero is 'jumping out' of combat, and then chasing down enemies with a vengeance.
Since it's now a Secret, it becomes a Hunter-exclusive.
OldNew
New Cards
Human
Choices are: Arcane Tower, Guard Tower, and Cannon Tower.
Orc
Undead
Night Elf
Combined Archer & Hippogryph:
Neutral
See OP for list of cards generated by the Mercenary Camp and Treasure Hunt. Many previously existing Neutral cards have been changed to now only be obtainable from these.
First of all, Great work! You've really put in some effort and found a lot of great minions/upgrades/abilities for the cards. Fun concept too.
This is also a good example of how tricky it is to squeeze certain races/factions together with specific classes. Mountain king (who used thunderclap) was a warrior and liches were mages. But you already knew that and clearly tried to stick to your initial class-faction concept, which I respect ;)
Having the scourge represented by priest and warlock seem a bit strange to me thou. Priest was a high elf minion (human) and the only mortal warlocks in WCIII were orcs.
Was it for the ease that you made almost dual class only cards? Most of the cards easily fit into just one (spirit wolf and arch mage for instance).
Had you spread out the classes a bit, enabling human + orc warrior cards and such, you could probably have added some satyr + blackrock warlocks and elf priests. demon hunter and Rouge are still tricky thou, since there were pretty much just Illidan and Maiev to reppresent those classes and most of their skills are already cards in HS. Maybe some mercenary rouges, but damn illidan is gonna feel lonely... Naga?
Having the scourge represented by priest and warlock seem a bit strange to me thou. Priest was a high elf minion (human) and the only mortal warlocks in WCIII were orcs.
Admittedly, this is probably the least strong of the class-faction associations. Still, with cards like Raise Dead, a formerly iconic 'Undead' ability, I felt it was okay to make this combo the 'bad guys' faction.
Had you spread out the classes a bit, enabling human + orc warrior cards and such, you could probably have added some satyr + blackrock warlocks and elf priests. demon hunter and Rouge are still tricky thou, since there were pretty much just Illidan and Maiev to reppresent those classes and most of their skills are already cards in HS. Maybe some mercenary rouges, but damn illidan is gonna feel lonely... Naga?
It's true that some cards thematically fit best with a single class, but like you said, I wanted everyone to be on their respective 'team'. I did make exceptions for Secrets, since if the opponent for example sees a 'Mage/Paladin Secret', well then it wouldn't be much of a Secret. I gave Druid the exclusive Nature's Blessing spell so they wouldn't feel bad about missing out on the Hunter Secret.
I felt it would be best, at least for now, to keep the set grounded to what's available in melee games. Almost all campaign units including Naga, when you break them down, are essentially just re-arranged combinations of abilities from melee units. So you'd sort of have to re-interpret their abilities each time so as to not make too much overlap.
You're right that Illidan feels left out though. I have been mulling over ideas for his faction, but that will have to be saved for a later time. =)
This is a collection of cards based off Warcraft III.
A few goals I had with this set to differentiate it from my StarCraft set was to restrict myself from adding any new Keywords or Minion types, yet still have the cards retain the distinguishing flavor of their War3 counterparts. I wanted to make this set feel compatible with the existing Hearthstone game.
Each Race from Warcraft III is represented by a Dual-Class combination that I felt best matched what they were like in the game. In standard games, there are only four races. Sorry, Rogues & Demon Hunters!
Mechanics Introduced
Some cards have some simple yet unique interactions that can make things interesting.
Minions with triggered effects
This is going by the gamepedia definition. The Durotar Raider for example, can act as a kind of 'soft' Silence to keep minions with reoccurring abilities from snowballing.
Non-played minions
A minion that was not played from the hand, but brought to the board some other way. For example, Control Magic could not take control of a Water Elemental normally, but if it was created via Deep Freeze, you could spend 3 mana to take control of it.
Enchantments
A different kind of 'soft' Silence, can be used to deal with threats from heavily buffed minions, or restore your debuffed minions without also removing their card text.
Human ( Mage / Paladin )
Choices are: Arcane Tower, Guard Tower, Cannon Tower.
Possible Critters: Sheep,Frog, Boar, Snowflipper Penguin, and Rat
Orc ( Shaman / Warrior )
Possible Totems:
Undead ( Priest / Warlock )
Night Elf ( Hunter / Druid )
Combined Archer & Hippogryph:
Neutral
Doom Guard spells:
Mercenaries ( Obtained from the Mercenary Camp card )
Treasures ( Obtained from the Treasure Hunt card )
Tokens
That's all for now. Feel free to reply with any suggestions. Thanks!
While I was working on a big update to this, imagine my surprise when Blizzard announced that some spells will be able to level up as the game goes on! Although in the Barrens expansion it seems to only apply to spells, I feel it could work for minions and weapons too. In War3, both hero spells and units can be upgraded, so I've definitely taken advantage of it for this fan expansion.
New Cards
Human
Orc
Undead
Night Elf
Neutral
Possible Legion Doom Guard spells:
Updated Cards
It'd be easier to list cards that weren't changed! So to keep this list simple I'll limit it to cards that had their mechanics changed in some way, rather than those that only had numbers changed or were given Rank upgrades, or spell schools.
The more cards I made, the less Spellburst came up, and so cards that interacted with the keyword seemed less and less useful. These changes let them shine more.
Old Version
New Version
I didn't really know what to do with the Troll Berserker's 'Berserk' ability, but the new Frenzy keyword helped give it a better direction.
OldNew
Sometimes you just gotta reset your own stuff too.
OldNew
Arthas is cool, too cool for his own good. Letting a less powerful non-legendary replace him lets his abilities come into play earlier.
OldNew
This was just a little too useful. Now it's a choice between hitting face and a few minions.
OldNew
I've made Taunt treated like being a Building in war3. Maybe a little weird, but it allows 'Siege' minions to feel more at home.
OldNew
At the last second, a pesky Acolyte swoops in to 'Unsummon' the tower, recovering precious resources.
OldNew
With the new Mana 'Scorch' spell, our 'Demon Hunter' no longer needs to worry about it and can focus on evading. There was an abundance of splash, so I thought having a minion type change was more interesting, even if few HS cards will care about it.
OldNew
Another case where Frenzy just made things better
OldNew
Crows can't attack Land units. Well, there is no such thing as a Land or Air unit in HS, so we'll settle for it not hitting heroes. This makes the Choose One options a little more even
OldNew
The 'damage penalty' mechanic fits better with what it actually does in War3.
OldNew
You can have your hero 'cosplay' a Pit Lord with this, with a Howl of Terror! Had to get rid of 'Lord' since there's not much space on Weapon names.
OldNew
It was either Healing Spray or Acid Bomb, and Acid Bomb would need more text, so it will probably have to be its own card.
OldNew
I like Sappers but they have to be reined in, or be expensive.
OldNew
Hall-of-Fame'd (Removed) cards
These were either replaced by a new card that I felt better fit what they were trying to represent, or in the case of Chain Lightning, replaced by a new Blizzard-made card. Although their Chain Lightning doesn't have as much bounce as I might like.
Blizzard give this man a job! Great work.
Big new update!
Updated Cards
'Hand-reveal' mechanic
Many have pointed out that these cards were far too powerful. So they've all been nerfed in some way so as to still be useful, but not game-breaking. I also made them a little more distinct from eachother mechanically.
OldNew
Old New
The Witch Doctor can now only summon one totem until it ranks up.
OldNew
OldNew
The Shade is no longer collectable. It can only be obtained via the Acolyte's Deathrattle. It also gets a unique spin on hand revealing. It only sees what your opponent is hovering over. So if they don't spend time inspecting their cards, it will be less effective.
OldNew
OldNew
The Huntress now needs to be Rank 2 to summon the Owl.
OldNew
OldNew
OldNew
Excessive card text
Many cards definitely had way too much text. I've trimmed down the worst offenders of this. Sometimes this necessitated a change to make their mechanics simpler, yet still fitting for representing their War3 counterpart. Some cards are definitely still a bit wordy, but this at least is a step in the right direction.
OldNew
OldNew
OldNew
OldNew
OldNew
OldNew
OldNew
OldNew
Reduce Attack damage
Poor low-damage characters couldn't even Attack with these cards on the field.
OldNew
OldNew
Other changes
In War3, Holy Light and Death Coil cannot target the caster. So they've been updated to more accurately reflect that.
OldNew
OldNew
It's maybe a little too weird to have dual-class Secrets, so I've made them exclusive to their specific class.
OldNew
Mages have unfortunately lost their iconic Blizzard spell in Standard, so our Archmage must step up to the plate to dish out the AoE damage he's known for. Also found better art for him.
OldNew
I felt having a % chance mechanic didn't really fit what should be a relatively basic minion. In War3 it's fine because fights can go on for a while and so their effect isn't as much of a coin-toss. This re-worked Footman gets to keep some early damage mitigation and have a bit of a specialized role without being good against every early drop.
OldNew
It was maybe too much Freeze for such a cheap minion.
OldNew
OldNew
OldNew
It didn't make much sense for the Stasis Trap to have Stealth for 1 turn if it was just going to die in 1 turn anyway.
OldNew
Animate Dead is one of the more notoriously lame Ultimates in War3. Animated units don't have their abilities, so originally I went with that. But it was wasting card text to make the card less interesting. Now that's no longer the case and you have a bit more control over the minions you get, so it's certainly more useful now.
OldNew
Stopping the target in its tracks also happens in War3, and makes it more useful here.
OldNew
Kind of a lame card before. In War3 its main use is in securing an expansion faster, rather than for the regenerative effects of Blight. So this change better reflects that.
OldNew
Some Night Elf art improvements
OldNew
OldNew
OldNew
OldNew
Blink is basically a completely different card now. Its old effect was basically just an Invulnerability potion if you didn't already have a Weapon. And it had too much text. With this re-work, it feels more like your hero is 'jumping out' of combat, and then chasing down enemies with a vengeance.
Since it's now a Secret, it becomes a Hunter-exclusive.
OldNew
New Cards
Human
Choices are: Arcane Tower, Guard Tower, and Cannon Tower.
Orc
Undead
Night Elf
Combined Archer & Hippogryph:
Neutral
See OP for list of cards generated by the Mercenary Camp and Treasure Hunt. Many previously existing Neutral cards have been changed to now only be obtainable from these.
Hall-of-Fame'd (Removed) cards
First of all, Great work! You've really put in some effort and found a lot of great minions/upgrades/abilities for the cards. Fun concept too.
This is also a good example of how tricky it is to squeeze certain races/factions together with specific classes. Mountain king (who used thunderclap) was a warrior and liches were mages. But you already knew that and clearly tried to stick to your initial class-faction concept, which I respect ;)
Having the scourge represented by priest and warlock seem a bit strange to me thou. Priest was a high elf minion (human) and the only mortal warlocks in WCIII were orcs.
Was it for the ease that you made almost dual class only cards? Most of the cards easily fit into just one (spirit wolf and arch mage for instance).
Had you spread out the classes a bit, enabling human + orc warrior cards and such, you could probably have added some satyr + blackrock warlocks and elf priests. demon hunter and Rouge are still tricky thou, since there were pretty much just Illidan and Maiev to reppresent those classes and most of their skills are already cards in HS. Maybe some mercenary rouges, but damn illidan is gonna feel lonely... Naga?
Admittedly, this is probably the least strong of the class-faction associations. Still, with cards like Raise Dead, a formerly iconic 'Undead' ability, I felt it was okay to make this combo the 'bad guys' faction.
It's true that some cards thematically fit best with a single class, but like you said, I wanted everyone to be on their respective 'team'. I did make exceptions for Secrets, since if the opponent for example sees a 'Mage/Paladin Secret', well then it wouldn't be much of a Secret. I gave Druid the exclusive Nature's Blessing spell so they wouldn't feel bad about missing out on the Hunter Secret.
I felt it would be best, at least for now, to keep the set grounded to what's available in melee games. Almost all campaign units including Naga, when you break them down, are essentially just re-arranged combinations of abilities from melee units. So you'd sort of have to re-interpret their abilities each time so as to not make too much overlap.
You're right that Illidan feels left out though. I have been mulling over ideas for his faction, but that will have to be saved for a later time. =)